So I thought I would flesh out my idea for casters (not that I ever play them but it seems to be a bone of contention in the player base).
Every pre-40 casting character gets: (within the first 10 ranks - so by lvl 10)
Staff, Sword, Dagger
Parry, dodge, shieldblock
Dual Wield
Second attack
Dirt Kick
The Pro: You can now solo hunt like a warrior with a whole lotta other skills to back you up.
The Con: Each of these skills costs 3-4 practices to learn. When you loose the skills as you rank, you do not get your practice sessions back.
Then as they progress up the ranks they start loosing things which make it easier for them to hunt - so by level 40 they would have lost every one of these bonus skills.
Maybe by level 20(5?) they start having things drop off that make life a little harder, like... Dirt Kick.
No offense Aulian, I understand what you are trying to do, but this would break immersion of reality for caster players.
If one really analyzes most casters one would notice that only Shamans and perhaps Healers have a hard time hunting alone.
The code alterations I would suggest to aid this classes would be to:
Increase Spell learning experience.
Viri lowered this one way back because mages were literally ranking without leaving their guilds.
New L30 pet.
We need a pet that deals 2 attacks at L30. The elven Gorilla deals 2 but at L20 he can't break AC of mobs without dirt kick / blind.
Garnhazion only has 1 attack but bashes. Professional Soldier, dirt kicks but his single attack is worse than the Gharnizon.
Something that has high hitroll so that it does not needs dirt/blind. Magic damage will also aid breaking AC.
Shaman:
L28 spirit bind to strike 2 times a round vs NPC's.
Perhaps even appear as early as L25.
It appears to deal level of spirit in damage, so that's 2x 28 HP's.
Healers:
L36 divine retribution to appear early at L25 (at least L30).
Battlemages:
L25 Hand to Hand move down to L15
L15 Kick move up to L25.
Move blade from L31 to lower. Such as L20. Colour spraying everything is a pain.
Lower Dancing blade from L46 to L40.
And perhaps give them Enhanced damage L15-25. Remember they have only 1 attack, 2 with self-haste.
Necromancers:
Drop Hand to Hand L20 to L15.
L20 Flesh golem drop down to L10
L33 Stone golem drop down to L20
Invokers:
Drop Hand to Hand L23 to L15.
Either drop Firestorm L36 or Fireshield L35 to a lower level, at about L20.
Clerics:
Drop Two handed L32 to L15.
If one focus in AC and a bit of Hitroll, with a stone Golem and pet, we can solo hunt up L33. This is the level I normally start to invest in doing medium guild quests and quests.
I've never had trouble leveling casters to the point where changes are deemed necessary. And they have changed enough to where you all should be quite comfortable. Spells gain exp. considerably more than skills as is and you can group with people ten lvl out. You only have to make it to lvl 40 for crying out loud and you can group with everyone at pinn. I am against making gaining exp any faster. There is def. no need whatsoever to pinn a char. overnight.
Helpful hint- spells that use more mana, gain more exp.